422 A Treatise on 
tfi confequently fcorbutick. Fheophilus de Garni- 
ct cieres, a famous Author, (de Tabs Anglicand) im- 
“ putes the Caufe of the Englijh Coniumption to 
“ the immoderate Ufe which we make of Sugar: 
<c But I know not whether the Increafe of the Scur- 
“ vy may not, with greater Reafon, be afcribed to 
“ it.” So far milis . 
Neverthelefs Frederick Slare , a Phyfician of Lon- 
don and Fellow of the Royal Society , anfwers thefe 
Arguments very well in his Vindication of Sugar, 
i. Says he, the Scurvy was fpread abroad in the 
Northern Countries long before Sugar was brought 
thither. Befides, that Difeafe is more common a- 
mong the Poor who very feldom make ufe of Su- 
gar, than among the Rich with whom its Ufe is 
frequent and familiar. 2. As to the Confumption, 
which Lheophilus de Garencieres calls Flagellum An- 
glia , ( the Scourge of England,) it is evident that the 
Air of London , vitiated by the Smoke of foftil 
Coal, is the primary Caufe of that Difeafe ; fince 
it is often cured, during its firft Stage, by change 
of Air only. Moreover, the epidemick Con- 
iumption of Portugal ought not to be imputed fo 
much to the Abufe of Sugar, as to the almod con- 
tinual eating of Acids, if Slare himfelf had not 
afcribed it to a certain venereal Virulency. 
But they who are difpleafed with fweet Things 
pbjedt, that Sugar contains at lead an acid Salt, 
which is extremely corrofive, and confequently 
hurtful to the Body. We mud indeed confefs that 
there are in Sugar very powerful acid Spicula , which 
are fet at liberty by Fermentation, or feparated from 
the other Principles by Didillation, though not in 
fo great a Quantity as they are drawn from Nitre or 
Vitriol : But we are not therefore to conclude that 
this Acid renders Sugar hurtful. For if that Argu- 
ment were of any Force, Mankind could take no 
Food 
